BELLE — Belle’s police department and municipal court ended the 2025-26 fiscal year with combined deficits of approximately $69,000, prompting a lengthy discussion Aug. 26 about declining fine revenue, ticket numbers and ordinance enforcement.

During discussion of the city’s final 2025-26 budget, Alderman Steve Vogt said every city fund finished the year in the black except the police department and municipal court.

“The court was over $31,000 in the hole for the year, and the police department come out of it a little bit, but they were still almost $38,000 in the hole,” Vogt said.

Those figures total approximately $69,000, although Vogt characterized the combined shortfall during the meeting as “around $75,000.”

“I’ve been very vocal about this in the past, beat a dead horse, but at $75,000, we can do a lot of streets and other projects in town,” Vogt said.

The discussion quickly turned to the number of citations being issued by the Belle Police Department.

Former alderman Ken Stanfield asked how many tickets had been issued. Charro Reasor, city treasurer and office manager, said the department issued one in June and one in July. She added that approximately 18 had been issued during the most recent month following the addition of a new officer.

Mayor James (Pudd) Mitchell said the new officer had been stopping motorists traveling through Belle in the early morning hours at speeds of 50 to 54 mph in a 35 mph zone.

“Our new officer is writing tickets,” Mitchell said. “He’s catching people coming through town 4:30 in the morning, anywhere from 50 mile an hour to 53, 54 mile an hour, 35 mile an hour zone. And I mean, he’s doing his job.”

Officials said the city’s financial problem is not simply a matter of expenditures.

“Much like any other budget, the income’s too low and the expenses too high,” Vogt said.

Mitchell said officials had reviewed the budget in an effort to find additional money for the police department but had been unable to identify another funding source.

“The main thing is we need revenue,” Mitchell said.

Reasor said the police department receives 92 percent of the applicable tax revenue, with the remaining 8 percent going to parks.

Officials also said fine revenue had declined considerably from the previous year.

Branson asked whether the municipal court’s deficit resulted from people failing to pay their fines.

Mitchell said the problem was a lack of citations.

“We ain’t getting no tickets,” Mitchell said.

He noted again that only one ticket had been issued in June and one in July.

“That’s it,” Mitchell said. “No ordinance violations. No speeding tickets. No traffic violations. Nothing.”

The situation appeared to be changing, as one employee described the most recent court session as potentially the strongest the city had seen in two years.

“This month felt like court,” Reasor said. “We had a room full of people again, and this month that we’re having is probably going to be the best court we’ve had in two years.”

Discussion also turned to enforcement of city ordinances. Alderman Jeanette Struemph said there are numerous ordinance violations in Belle that could be addressed, including properties with overgrown grass.

“There is also lots of ordinance violations that need to be written in this town because we have lots of grass that’s over your head,” Struemph said.

Vogt noted that Missouri law limits the amount of a municipality’s revenue that can come from traffic fines and said Belle was nowhere close to that limit.

Alderman Rebecca Withouse asked whether the new officer was given a ticket quota or goal. Officials immediately said the city could not do so.

“We can’t do that. We’re not allowed to,” Mitchell said.

“We expect them to do their job,” Vogt added.

The discussion later returned to ordinance enforcement, with Struemph suggesting the city consider allowing additional officers to issue ordinance citations. Officials said only the city marshal currently handles that responsibility.

Vogt questioned how an officer could work an entire month while issuing one or no citations.

“It’s hard to believe that you can work all month and write zero or one ticket,” Vogt said. “I mean, I see things every day.”

Following the discussion, the board approved closing the city’s 2025-26 fiscal year.